Throughout the semester, I have developed a Personal Knowledge Base (PKB) in Evernote that I believe will be a valuable resource for years to come. The introduction of Evernote in EDC 102H was arguably the best thing to ever happen to me in terms of organization. I started using Evernote and the Evernote Web Clipper solely for storing articles and sources for projects for this class. Throughout the semester, I have expanded my uses to storing sources for other academic courses, as well as storing some personal notes and links to look at in my spare time. In this reflection, I will address the details of my use of Evernote and the Evernote Web Clipper in this class, my other uses I developed as I became more comfortable with the application, and the organizational scheme within my Evernote.
Throughout this course specifically, I have used Evernote for everything. I store absolutely everything from class in my EDC 102H notebook including: class notes, educational resources, sources for projects, screenshots of my mindmups, and pictures of written documents. When using the Evernote Clipper, I commonly clip entire articles, but I have also made use of simplified articles, screenshots, and bookmarks. I find simplified articles best to clip when I plan on reading and annotating sources. The “simplified” aspect of the article eliminates all distractions and formats the text in an organized and readable way. The project that I used Evernote the most for in this class was the RI Strategic Plan Project. I first clipped the assignment details and instructions into a simplified article. I next clipped general sources such as Wikipedia so I could read when I had a chance to evaluate what I wanted to research further. Once that was decided, I clipped all the articles I had found for my Background Research page on the URITK wikispace. I then merged these sources into one note to keep them organized in one place. For this project, I also clipped a screenshot of the mindmup that I created for the visual representation on our team page. Lastly, I included a bookmark to our powerpoint from the teach-in that is located on my Google Drive. Having everything I needed for this project in my Evernote kept me organized and on track to complete the project in an efficient and timely manner.
As I stated above, the introduction of Evernote was very helpful to my organization. At the beginning of the semester, I was worried about my organization techniques in college. In high school, I took all my class notes on paper. For electronic documents, I used a Google Drive account attached to my school email. I like the easy sharing aspect of Google Drive; how I can share a document with anyone to peer edit my assignments. I now have a personal Drive and use it for this purpose. Now that I have Evernote, I type all my notes from class into the application and store them in folders for each course. Keeping my notes for all my courses in one place is extremely convenient when have lots of things to work on. If I go to the library now, I don’t need to carry a bunch of paper notebooks, or search for a bunch of Microsoft Word documents. I use Evernote for everything so everything is in one, organized location.
In Evernote, I have created nine notebooks. One for each of my six courses I took this semester, one for my Kappa Delta sorority documents and resources, one personal one for things that are not school related, and one for general documents that don’t fit into a category. I use tags on my notes with class topics, so I can look at all my resources together before written assignments or exams. For example, some of my tags for this class include: “Ravitch”, “Context Report Project”, and “RI Strategic Plan Project”. Another organizational trick I use is merging notes. As I explained above, for the RI Strategic Plan Project, I merged my sources for my Background Research page. I have done this also for my WRT 106 class research for my final paper when writing an annotated bibliography.
Evernote has been an extremely helpful tool in the organization and creation of my Personal Knowledge Base. I have used Evernote heavily in this class, as well as others. I tend to use Evernote as a means of storage for my class work and project sources, as opposed to clipping articles to accumulate outside academic resources for myself. I believe my Evernote to be very organized by my standards, with the successful use of tags and merging. Since expanding my use from EDC 102H to all of my academic courses, I have actually recommended it to my roommate who was unsure of an organizational strategy for her academics this semester. Alike myself, she has had success with the application. I would continue to recommend it to any and all college students. My PKB created in Evernote this semester will be an everlasting resource for years to come, and I will definitely be continuing the use of the application for my courses next semester and beyond.
Throughout this course specifically, I have used Evernote for everything. I store absolutely everything from class in my EDC 102H notebook including: class notes, educational resources, sources for projects, screenshots of my mindmups, and pictures of written documents. When using the Evernote Clipper, I commonly clip entire articles, but I have also made use of simplified articles, screenshots, and bookmarks. I find simplified articles best to clip when I plan on reading and annotating sources. The “simplified” aspect of the article eliminates all distractions and formats the text in an organized and readable way. The project that I used Evernote the most for in this class was the RI Strategic Plan Project. I first clipped the assignment details and instructions into a simplified article. I next clipped general sources such as Wikipedia so I could read when I had a chance to evaluate what I wanted to research further. Once that was decided, I clipped all the articles I had found for my Background Research page on the URITK wikispace. I then merged these sources into one note to keep them organized in one place. For this project, I also clipped a screenshot of the mindmup that I created for the visual representation on our team page. Lastly, I included a bookmark to our powerpoint from the teach-in that is located on my Google Drive. Having everything I needed for this project in my Evernote kept me organized and on track to complete the project in an efficient and timely manner.
As I stated above, the introduction of Evernote was very helpful to my organization. At the beginning of the semester, I was worried about my organization techniques in college. In high school, I took all my class notes on paper. For electronic documents, I used a Google Drive account attached to my school email. I like the easy sharing aspect of Google Drive; how I can share a document with anyone to peer edit my assignments. I now have a personal Drive and use it for this purpose. Now that I have Evernote, I type all my notes from class into the application and store them in folders for each course. Keeping my notes for all my courses in one place is extremely convenient when have lots of things to work on. If I go to the library now, I don’t need to carry a bunch of paper notebooks, or search for a bunch of Microsoft Word documents. I use Evernote for everything so everything is in one, organized location.
In Evernote, I have created nine notebooks. One for each of my six courses I took this semester, one for my Kappa Delta sorority documents and resources, one personal one for things that are not school related, and one for general documents that don’t fit into a category. I use tags on my notes with class topics, so I can look at all my resources together before written assignments or exams. For example, some of my tags for this class include: “Ravitch”, “Context Report Project”, and “RI Strategic Plan Project”. Another organizational trick I use is merging notes. As I explained above, for the RI Strategic Plan Project, I merged my sources for my Background Research page. I have done this also for my WRT 106 class research for my final paper when writing an annotated bibliography.
Evernote has been an extremely helpful tool in the organization and creation of my Personal Knowledge Base. I have used Evernote heavily in this class, as well as others. I tend to use Evernote as a means of storage for my class work and project sources, as opposed to clipping articles to accumulate outside academic resources for myself. I believe my Evernote to be very organized by my standards, with the successful use of tags and merging. Since expanding my use from EDC 102H to all of my academic courses, I have actually recommended it to my roommate who was unsure of an organizational strategy for her academics this semester. Alike myself, she has had success with the application. I would continue to recommend it to any and all college students. My PKB created in Evernote this semester will be an everlasting resource for years to come, and I will definitely be continuing the use of the application for my courses next semester and beyond.